HUD AWARDS $5.5 MILLION TO NEWARK TO PROTECT CHILDREN FROM LEAD AND OTHER HOME HAZARDS
Funding to make low-income housing safer and healthier

NEWARK - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $5,500,000 in grants to the City of Newark to conduct a wide range of activities intended to protect children and families from potentially dangerous lead-based paint and other home health and safety hazards. (A listing of grants and project descriptions is below.)

"Protecting the health, and indeed the futures, of our children is a top priority for HUD. We cannot allow children to be poisoned in their own homes," said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "These grants will help communities around the nation to protect families from lead exposure and other significant health and safety hazards."

HUD Regional Administrator Adolfo Carrión added: "With these grant awards, HUD makes it clear that providing healthy and safe homes for families and children is a priority. It's simple: you can't be healthy if your home is sick. There are far too many 'sick homes' in our communities, and these funds will target the worst of those homes. HUD is committed to protecting children from these hazards, as part of the Department's effort to help make the nation's housing healthy and sustainable."

Nationally, HUD awarded nearly $127 million. The grant funding announced today will clean up lead and other health hazards in more than 11,000 homes nationwide, train workers in lead safety methods, and increase public awareness about childhood lead poisoning. Lead is a known toxin that can impair children's development and have effects lasting into adulthood. Other materials in the home can trigger allergic responses and asthma.

Through these grants, HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control promotes local efforts to eliminate dangerous lead hazards from lower income homes; stimulates private sector investment in lead hazard control; and educates the public about the dangers of lead-based paint.

Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control Grant Programs

Even though lead-based paint was banned for residential use in 1978, HUD estimates that approximately 24 million homes nationwide still have significant lead-based paint hazards today. Lead-contaminated dust is the primary cause of lead exposure and can lead to a variety of health problems in young children, including reduced IQ, learning disabilities, developmental delays, reduced height, and impaired hearing. At higher levels, lead can damage a child's kidneys and central nervous system and cause anemia, coma, convulsions and even death.

The funding announced today includes more than $114 million to cities, counties and states to eliminate dangerous lead paint hazards in thousands of privately-owned, low-income housing units. These funds are provided through HUD's Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control and Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration grant programs. To expand the reach of HUD's Lead Hazard Control Program, more than $13 million of this funding will support new grantees. HUD is also providing nearly $2.3 million to help communities transform their lead hazard control programs to address multiple housing-related hazards. Finally, HUD will award $10 million in Healthy Homes Production grant funds to address housing-related health hazards, such as accidental injury, mold and moisture, and carbon monoxide poisoning, through direct improvements that affect the health of children and elderly adults.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. HUD is working to strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes: utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination; and transform the way HUD does business. More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet at www.hud.gov and espanol.hud.gov. You can also follow HUD on Twitter at @HUDnews or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HUD, or sign up for news alerts on HUD's News Listserv.

PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS

Healthy Homes Production Grant Programs
The City of Newark, NJ will receive $1,000,000 in Healthy Homes Production Grant funds to identify and remediate healthy homes hazards in 120 homes occupied by low-income families.  The City will mitigate asthma, refer children and families to other social service agencies, and provide education on healthy homes through community outreach at 150 events reaching 1,500 individuals.
Contact: L'Tanya Williamson, Acting Director, (973) 733-5310 or email williamsonlt@ci.newark.nj.us

Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration
The City of Newark, NJ will receive $4,500,000 in Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration funds to assess lead based paint hazards in 500 homes and remediate the identified hazards in 250 homes occupied by low-income families that were built before 1940.
Contact: L'Tanya Williamson, Acting Director (973) 733-5310 or email williamsonlt@ci.newark.nj.us